Dried Mandarin Orange Peel

Dried Mandarin Orange Peel

Since I was small, my mother loves to boil desserts with this

Dried Mandarin Peel to give some fruity and citrus taste to the dessert.

Today, I am showing you how to make this Dried Mandarin Peel

which you can use to boil Red Bean, Mung Bean and other type of beans dessert.

Thanks to Elly Chong giving me this table towel from Scotland.

Very useful indeed!

Pictures above, from left to right.

1) Get one Mandarin Orange.

2) Peel off the skin.

3) Take out the white membrane (pith).

[or see below another picture how to scrap out the

white membrane (pith)]

Use spoon to scrap out the white membrane (pith)

until you notice the dot in orange colour.

Cleaned.....done.....no more white membrane (pith).

To dry under the sun until dried.

The peel look like this after 4 days.

The peel look like this after 14 days.

Put into container and use it when needed for

Red Bean Dessert, Mung Bean Dessert and etc to give

the dessert with fruity and citrus taste.

Happy Making.

Assorted Western Breakfast 1

Assorted Western Breakfast

Well, this morning I made this breakfast for my dear husband,

as requested by him yesterday night.

Ok lah.....this will be my Valentine Gift to him.....very cheap lah!

But this gift is valuable because it is cooked with love and joy.

I wish my dear husband joy, happiness, longevity and prosperity.

Wanted to share this dear incident with you which I told my dear

colleague Elly Chong about and she said it was very amusing and cute.

Here goes my story. 1st night, I couldn't sleep until 1.00 am

because maybe I had too much of Chinese tea during dinner time,

thus, I did not have a good night sleep.

Then, 2nd night, our room air-conditioner went out of order.

You can imagine the hot weather outside.

So, my cranky mood was coming out while my dear husband

was fixing it at 10.30 pm.

While I was sleeping, I murmur that yesterday cannot sleep well

and today cannot sleep and I have a lot of office work to clear off tomorrow,

bla bla bla.....,

You know what, my dear husband came to my side

and "um" (pat) me to sleep and kept saying "go to sleep", "go to sleep",

"don't think so much of the heat", "I will fix it", use fan for the time being

....bla bla bla and then I realise the next morning that I have slept

through the night while he was patting me. I am just like a baby.

:)

THE END

Ok, back to my cooking..

Pan fried sausage, bacon...I cooked it without any oil.

Oops! I've forgotten to take picture for my Sunny Side Up egg....sorry-lah.

Once, all the sausage, bacon, egg are cooked and bread are toasted,

placed all in the serving plate.

Easy breakfast to make :-

2 slices of toasted Wheat Germ Bread.

3 pieces of Pan Fried Sausages.

4 slices of Pan Fried Bacon.

1 Sunny Side Up Egg.

Isn't it lip smacking?

My husband and son loved it but not my daughter

because she is trying to become a pescetarian.

Just wishing her all the luck... Anyway, isn't it very

difficult when her mother cooks so many

delicious FOOD at home? So, how to become a FULL PESCETARIAN?

Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly

Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly

[Recipe Source : by Amy Cheong, Desirable Recipes]

This morning, woke up very early, cannot sleep.

Since cannot sleep, my brain cracking what to cook for breakfast?

Came out this very simple breakfast, Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly,

sure my son and daughter will love it.

To get my Fluffy Pancake recipe, please click here.

Once you have done all the pancake,

spread the Peanut Butter & Jelly on top of the pancake

and take another pancake to sandwich it.

My children love the Smucker's Goober Brand of the Peanut Butter & Jelly.

Isn't it is delicious to eat with your favourite hot drink?

Happy Eating!

:)

Braised Sea Cucumber, Mushrooms & Chicken Feet

Braised Sea Cucumber, Mushroom & Chicken Feet

[Recipe Source : by Amy Cheong, Desirable Recipes]

During Chinese New Year, regardless whether that family

is of Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, TeoChew,

Hailam descent (there are many more),

they will surely cook this dish but different families have their

own concoctions. Since I am from a Cantonese family,

I am used to eating and cooking this way.

Well, my husband and I love to eat the Chicken Feet but

my son and daughter will say Yuck! Yuck! ....both of them

eat the Sea Cucumber and Mushroom only.

6 pieces of Pre-Fried Chicken Feet.

9 pieces of Dried Mushrooms.

Mushrooms - Wash and soak with water for 2 hours.

Drain, squeeze the water and keep the water for later use.

Few pieces of Sea Cucumber - Cleaned (Left only few pieces in our freezer).

Pour 1250 ml of water into the pot.

Pour all the ingredients (Sea Cucumber, Mushrooms and Chicken Feet)

into the pot and boil with high fire for around 25 minutes.

Once it is boiled after 25 minutes, lower down the fire

to medium and boil further.

After 1 hour, you noticed that the water has been reduced,

lower the fire to slow, pour in 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce,

1/2 tablespoon of salt, 1/2 tablespoon of pepper and

1/2 tablespoon of sugar.

Adjust the taste to your liking.

(Note : If the water reduced tremendously,

by all means, pour more water)

Scoop some of the ingredients to one side.

Get ready 1 tablespoon of corn flour and

mix well with one tablespoon of pipe water (not hot

nor fridge water).

Pour the corn flour mixture into the pot.

Stir until well combined in order to make the gravy thicker.

Once well combined, turn off the fire.

Serve in a serving dish.

Enjoy this dish during the Chinese New Year reunion lunch or dinner.

May you and your family have an enjoyable Chinese New Year

and May you and your family be blessed with Good Health, Joy,

Happiness, Longevity and Prosperity.

I am submitting this Braised Sea Cucumber, Mushrooms and Chicken Feet

to Aspiring Bakers #15 : Auspicious Dishes for CNY (Januay 2012)

hosted by Wen of Wen's Delight.

Arrowhead Root Wrap (Nga Ku)

Arrowhead Root Wrap

(Nga Ku Wrap)

[Recipe Source : by Amy Cheong, Desirable Recipes]

This is a very humble dish. My mother cooks this dish

without fail every year during Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

When I married my husband, I introduced this dish to

my mother in law and she cooks it too every year during

Chinese New Year. For the first few years, only my sister in law,

Sook Yen and myself love it very much and then subsequent

years, my other sisters in laws and brothers in law joined us in liking

this dish. So, this dish had become part of the family reunion dish.

A lot of people do not know about this dish because

it is cooked only by the original Cantonese people.

Local lettuce or ice berg lettuce.

Few pieces of Nga Ku.

Close up picture of Nga Ku.

Malaysian only get this Nga Ku once a year

during Chinese New Year flown from China.

Wash and drain the local lettuce.

Wash, peel the skin and slice the Nga Ku to

your desire sizes.

Get ready :-

Sweet Sauce (Hoisin Sauce), if you like Chilli Sauce...by all means use it.

Local Lettuce.

Cooked Nga Ku (please click here for more details on how to cook Nga Ku).

Make sure your cooked Nga Ku is NOT piping hot when you wrap it

because later your local lettuce will become too soft to handle if you

place the piping hot Nga Ku instead of cold Nga Ku.

There are many ways to eat this cooked Nga Ku,

1) you can eat it with rice directly.

2) eat it immediately after wrapping it.

3) eat it later after wrapping it.

We all prefer to eat it immediately after wrapping it

and also especially after eating all our other reunion dishes.

This dish will be the last dish to eat because we need to use

both of my hands......messy a little bit lor....but worth it!!!

Spread some sweet sauce and lay a few pieces

of cooked Nga Ku.

Wrap one side to the middle.

And then another side to the middle.

Now, eat it immediately..........don't wait .......

It gives you fresh taste from the local lettuce,

crunchy bite from the Nga Ku and sweetness from the

sweet sauce and Nga Ku.

or (another method of eating this dish).......

Lay down the Local Lettuce and spread some sweet sauce.

Put some few pieces of the cooked Nga Ku in the middle.

Wrap it as per the picture shown.

Roll it until to the end.

After reading my lengthy notes, sure you must be put off to cook it.

Please, don't be .... it is a very simple dish to cook.

It is just my notes, don't be put off. Just try it out, no harm doing it.

:)

I am wishing all my family, friends and colleagues a

Very Happy Chinese New Year and may this Dragon Year

(my year...ha ha ha ...old already) bring you and your family

Good Health, Good Fortune and Longevity.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #15 : Auspicious Dishes for

CNY (January 2012) which is hosted by Wen of Wen's Delight.

Crispy Yam Nest / Crispy Taro Nest

Crispy Yam Nest / Crispy Taro Nest

Hi, I am back.

Today, I made Crispy Yam. Some people called it Taro or

Keladi in Bahasa Malaysia.

Every year without fail, my mother will make it for

Chinese New Year and it will be gone before the

end of the Chinese New Year.

1 Yam (519 g).

50 g Sesame Seeds.

50 g Rice Flour.

1/4 cup (6 ml) Water.

Wash the Yam, peel the outer skin and julienne.

(Note : PLEASE BE REMINDED not to wash the Yam

after you have julienne it. If not, your Yam will

become soggy)

I prefer to use knife to julienne the Yam because I can

control the thickness of the Yam. As my son said "Like a Boss"

After julienne the Yam, the weight is 407 g.

(Note : PLEASE BE REMINDED not to wash the Yam

after you have julienne it. If not your Yam will

become soggy.)

Mix the Yam with Sesame Seeds and Rice Flour until well combined.

You will notice that you can't see the Sesame Seeds.

Where is it? Well, it is hiding at the bottom.

Pour in 1/4 cup (6 ml) of Water and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of Salt,

then mix again until well combined.

With the water poured in, the Sesame Seeds will

stick to the Yam and Rice Flour.

(Note : Don't be too greedy with the Rice Flour......

your Yam will be hard as rock.)

Heat up cooking oil.

Make like a nest.

Push the Yam into the boiling oil with high fire.

Once the Yam slightly brown in colour,

then turn it over and fried further.

Keep on turning and turning until it is well fried.

Do not over fried because it will be bitter in taste.

(Note : Remember that once you have occupied the Yam

inside the pan, turn the fire into medium until the Yam is fully cooked.

Repeat from high fire to medium fire until finished.)

You will notice that the oil has 90% stop sizzling,

it's mean that the Yam is fully cooked.

Scoop it out and drain the oil by using paper tower.

Let it 100% cool before putting into container.

End result!

It is very crispy.....you won't regret it.

I have made two medium size containers and

I think it will be gone by end of next week.

Wishing all Chinese A Very Happy Gong Xi Fa Cai.

May this Dragon Year brings you and your family

with joy, longevity and prosperity.